Maritime Gloucester has a fundraising dinner planned for Monday, March 31. Chefs from Turner’s Seafood and Latitude 43 will prepare a three-course meal highlighting underutilized, local seafood to showcase the best of what the waters off Gloucester have to offer.

This is an important event for Maritime Gloucester and, quite honestly, it’s more than a fundraiser. Let me explain.

Over the last two years, Maritime Gloucester has been increasingly active in supporting conversations and information sharing with respect to fisheries issues. We hosted a month long series of programs on sustainable seafood; we supported GMRI’s Trawl to Table workshop at our harbor campus; we hosted college groups from Endicott, Boston University and University of Rhode Island who wished to learned about Gloucester fisheries issues; and we taught lobster biology and the art of lobster trap building to high school students. We continue to work with various partners in the City in support of a sustainable fisheries and a thriving working waterfront. We have a clear role — Maritime Gloucester can convene, engage, provoke, facilitate and educate. We plan to begin that task in earnest this summer with a new, fisheries exhibit.

So you see, while this is a fundraiser, we are looking for strength in numbers – no easy task on a Monday night in March – to validate Maritime Gloucester’s instinct that it can honor 400 years of maritime fishing history, utilize contemporary communication tools and educational techniques, and host in this community the setting for a seafood table that has the potential to nourish all.

We hope you can join us at that table. Plus, it will be fun and tasty.

Tom Balf
Executive Director
Maritime Gloucester

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I’m not sure whose idea it was to try to strip away the signature “Fighting Fishermen” on Newell Stadium but thank god there are still men like Art McCann who have enough sense to push back on the politically correct machine and make sure it was repainted.

Love this guy.

The petition reads:

“Let’s not rob our students of the fighting spirit to win both on the field and in the classroom. This petition is to bring back the Fighting Fishermen”

Last year was the beginning of our first and wonderfully successful Cape Ann Milkweed Project. Joe generously offered to hold the plant sale at Captain Joe and Sons, which is very conveniently located on East Main Street, and we had a fantastic turnout. This year I am thinking about doing things a little differently. Rather than shipping and handling live small plants, I am planning on purchasing milkweed seeds in bulk. My question is, and this is not the official order form, but just to get a sense of participation, does anyone have an interest in planting milkweed from seed in their gardens, meadows, and/or abandoned areas around our community?

I think I can get good quantities of seed of Marsh Milkweed, Common Milkweed, and Prairie Milkweed. All three are very easy to grow from seed and take about 14 days to germinate. I will provide complete information and tips on growing milkweed from seed.

Please answer in the comment section if you are interested in growing milkweed from seed.

Why is it so important to plant milkweed for the Monarchs? We’ve written much about that here on GMG. At the end of the post, please find a list of posts previously published on GMG about the importance of milkweed. In a nutshell, milkweed is the only caterpillar food plant of the Monarch butterfly. The Monarch Butterfly migration is in serious peril One way we can all take action to is to plant milkweed to help mitigate the loss of habitat, partly due to global climate change and primarily due to the use of Monsanto’s GMO Roundup Ready corn, soybean, and sorghum seed along with the massive use of their herbicide Roundup.

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Like this:

Now we often fast forward through TV commercials or change the car radio station when an ad come on, but once in a while somebody crafts such a good radio spot that you can’t help but listen. That’s what our friends Aurelia Nelson & Jay Foss at Northshore 104.9 did this week and I was so inspired when I heard it that I decided to pop into Adobe Premiere and have some fun. This is what came out:

Daisy Nell & Capt. Stan will perform on banjo and guitar, with their usual combination of traditional and contemporary folk songs, blues, gospel, and maritine material. Tight vocal harmonies, a varied repertoire, and some audience sing-alongs, will all make an evening of lively music.

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I love this wall. While it represents a whole lot of honor and bravery….and is especially lovely in light of this week’s horrible loss in the Boston Fire Department….it is also one of my favorite signs of spring.

Anyone know where it is? There are a couple of hidden clues within the photo if you need some help.

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This morning I treated my morning tea friends with a freshly baked batch of my favorite Italian Chifeletti Almond Cookies. Chifeletti are perfect to serve with a hot cup of tea, coffee or espresso any time of day or night…they are simply heavenly delicious!

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Cape Ann Painter and Photography Group Meeting on Friday April 4, 10:30 -12

Hi Everyone,The Cape Ann Painter and Photography Group will meet at Cape Ann Giclee on 20 Maplewood Avenue, Gloucester on Friday, April 4, 10:30 -12. We will have a social time ,share goals for our work for the year, and just have fun! Coffee and pastries will be provided. All are welcome. This is a great opportunity for artists and photographers in the area to meet each other and share ideas.Parking at Cape Ann Giclee is on the far right of Shaw’s Supermarket.Thanks to Jams and Anna of Cape Ann Giclee for providing a space for the meeting. It is much appreciated.Hope to see you there!Alice Gardner 978-810-9760

Rockport Reunion “The Day A Town Came Together”

Spiran Lodge # 98 Annual Swedish Pancake Breakfast

CRANE ESTATE TO HOST LECTURE ON THE COUNTRY HOUSE LIBRARY APRIL 23

Mark Purcell, Libraries Curator to the National Trust, will present an illustrated lecture A Great Number of Useful Books: The Country House Library at Castle Hill on the Crane Estate, 290 Argilla Rd., Ipswich, on Wednesday, April 23, at 6:00 pm. Tickets are $40; $30 for Trustees of Reservations and Royal Oak Foundation members. A reception following the lecture and sponsored by Freeman’s Auctioneers and Appraisers is included in the ticket price. Advance registration at www.thetrustees.org/royal-oak is recommended.

Purcell has been Libraries Curator to the National Trust since 1999 and is responsible for the Trust’s 168 historic libraries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. He presided over the cataloguing of the Trust’s vast collection of books and the digitization of the catalogue in 2010. This is his second lecture tour for the Royal Oak Foundation, whose Campaign for Country House Libraries underwrites much of the National Trust’s libraries program.

Purcell will present a lavishly illustrated lecture exploring different British country house libraries with books both useful and curious. He will show fine examples from the National Trust including an early 15th-century Chaucer manuscript at Petworth House in West Sussex. He’ll also present the book collection at Cambridge’s Anglesey Abbey, acquired by the 1st Lord Fairhaven, a member of the British House of Lords who was born in New York City in 1896.

This programis presented in partnership with The Royal Oak Foundation, a U.S. non-profit that engages Americans in the work of the National Trust of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. For more information about The Royal Oak Foundation, please visit

Join us for a gripping talk and engaging evening on Tuesday, April 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Waterline Center at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum as Chris Hood, nephew of the famous sailmaker Ted Hood, talks about yacht building in Marblehead – and the interesting journey of following a family legacy.

Chris Hood, 46, of Marblehead, Mass. is the nephew of the 1974 America’s Cup winner Ted Hood, and comes from a family of innovators and inventors. Along with his famous uncle Ted, who was known for his innovations and inventions, he has many unusual and interesting influences that helped shape his chosen career as a boat builder in his hometown of Marblehead, Mass. With sailing and yacht racing a part of the family legacy, his family history is full of unique individuals and influences. Chris Hood’s great grandfather R.O. Hood worked for Henry Ford and is credited with inventing the electric starter, his grandfather Ralph Stedman Hood was also an inventor and chemist for Monsanto in the early 1940s. His grandfather helped both Ted Hood and Chris Hood’s father, Bruce, with their own unique careers. His grandfather is credited with inventing the looms that spun the famous Hood sailcloth, while Chris’s father – an MIT-educated physicists held many patents and created the product Hood Molded Foam in the 1970s – used in everything from car dashboards to Nerf toys. Chris Hood himself says that growing up with physicists and chemists and inventors in his home certainly helped shape his own keen instincts for three-dimensional thinking and innovation.Chris Hood followed his own dream to become a boat builder and his award winning C.W. Hood 32 is now built right in Marblehead at the iconic Little Harbor. Just featured in SAIL magazine and the winner of the Spirit of Tradition under 40-feet category in the British magazine Classic Yachts, Chris Hood truly has both the instincts and the legacy to continue to build high quality, innovative sailboats and power boats.

His lecture will talk about his family history, his current projects and will offer practical advice for boat owners and boat lovers alike on getting a vessel ready for spring or simply maintaining the beautiful quality that his yachts are famous for.

We seemed to have made a good call trying out Saturdays for dances. The March 1 dance was so well attended that we’ve got our next two dances scheduled for Saturdays as well. First up is this Saturday, March 29. Then we’ll do it all again on Saturday, April 19. Newcomers have been joining us at every dance and our intro sessions do a good job of warming them up for the evening. We are excited that this traditional New England dance style has taken roots here in Gloucester! The flyer has more details.

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Free GMG Gloucester Sticker

As long as supplies last if any GMG folks want a bumper sticker but can't drop down the dock, just send a self addressed and stamped envelope longer then 7 and a half inches and I'll drop one in the mail for you.

Send the self addressed and stamped envelope to the dock at 95 East Main St Gloucester Ma 01930 care of Joey (put my name in big letters to make sure it gets to me)

Free GMG Gloucester Sticker

As long as supplies last if any GMG folks want a bumper sticker but can't drop down the dock, just send a self addressed and stamped envelope longer then 7 and a half inches and I'll drop one in the mail for you.

Send the self addressed and stamped envelope to the dock at 95 East Main St Gloucester Ma 01930 care of Joey (put my name in big letters to make sure it gets to me)